


Wanna Be No Seeker

by transfotias



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Homophobia, M/M, Post-Canon, Trans Lio Fotia, Xenophobia, because if youre writing promare fic and you dont fuck a mech?? I think you are doing it wrong <3, its really not subtle about the oppression in promare but promare is not a subtle movie so, look this is the prelude to chapter two where they will have sex with that mech., lucia is a Hag, rating will change next chapter dw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:01:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26273785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transfotias/pseuds/transfotias
Summary: Lio Fotia is homeless and angry, and rebuilding the world is going to be the hardest thing for him to do.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos, Lucia Fex & Lio Fotia
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Wanna Be No Seeker

Lio Fotia was homeless. 

He didn’t want anyone to know this. And he did technically have a house registered to his name. But he said to Gueira and Meis that “you can crash in the place I was given, it’s okay”. Then the two people turned into seven, an ex-Burnish family with a child coming to him for help with nowhere else to go. Turned into fifteen, another family, their friends, and their children. He couldn’t say no, even if their lives weren’t at stake anymore. His place on the pull out couch was too invasive, and he lied, saying “I got another place to crash, you guys don’t worry about it.” Gueira and Meis complained of course, but the inhabitants of the house were in good hands. Lio took up too much space.

He was currently sleeping in the locker rooms, either lifting the ceiling panels and essentially living in the roof, or piling his belongings into the linen closet where the shock blankets and towels were stored to make himself comfortable. Lio had never had a house before. In his mind it was like a large storage unit for a person, a box he could temporarily keep his people safe in. He was given a sizable apartment all to himself after being awarded a heroes badge by the city (ironic, given it was the city he had publicly threatened to burn down a week ago), but it had multiple rooms. He had determined any richer person living on their own was a sociopath. Those rooms couldn’t all just be for him, right?

After the global event wiping out the Promare alien mutation from Earth, the Burning Rescue was allowed to form a council to assist with former Burnish getting back on their feet and readjust into society. Headed by Galo not taking no for an answer, there was resource housing and employment assistance, food banks provided and projects to reunite ex Burnish with their families. To assist in the image of the project, Lio publically wore the burning rescue jacket, the previous fire starting mutant gang leader turned upstanding citizen. After all, he was cured, right? No more fire powers, no more danger to society. Just forget about the internment camps and the hatred you all held towards us, right? Forget and forgive everyone, as if you were never wronged.

But a lot of Burnish were happier now, and Lio needed to come to terms with that.

All Lios life he was fighting for liberation of the Burnish alongside humanity. But this type of acceptance was exhausting. It wasn’t even acceptance in the way that he was fighting for, it was a “happy you’re not a freak anymore!” from the deli guy, a “glad you’re ‘one of the good ones’!” from Ignis, a “Lio Fotia is proof that the Burnish can change!” from the news announcer. He had the spiking desire to take the microphone and shout “I would burn this entire city down in a second if it meant liberation. A lot of you in this room treated us like dogshit because of a mutation out of our control, and just because I’m “cured” now does not mean I’m forgetting where I came from, or how you treated me. Get fucked.”

But he didn’t do that. Because Galo was beaming at him again, his eager puppy dog eyes beaming, proud that he was on TV. Gueira and Meis were in the crowd, watching and anticipating his every move. Their future depended on him being a positive role model, save face, smile through it all, let them think that there’s no place else you’d rather be. The interview was press for housing developments being built for former Burnish refugees, and the argument had come up about “what about the people whose homes were taken by the Burnish, don’t they get a chance to live somewhere new?” Lio, being the person that did burn down houses about a week ago, didn’t know how to respond, and had to let Galo defend him again, a “You understand these people were misunderstood? ALL displaced people deserve the shot at proper housing, we don't need to be so divisive!”

The whole interview hollowed him out, made him feel like a shell of himself. He stood awkwardly at the post-show buffet and Galo talked his ear off about anything and everything, about what he should wear to his next TV appearance, about what he should say and who he’d be talking to. He was testing his patience today, and he didn't want to feel this frustrated with him. He kept his mouth shut, because without his help, there’s no way the Burnish rehabilitation program would have gotten any backing at all. His peppy bright personality, and the fact that he was seen publicly in a giant mech suit saving the world. But after they walked back to HQ and finished debriefing, Lio was just waiting for everyone to go home so he could sneak his way into the closets and go to sleep, and Galo did not leave for several hours talking with him. The steps were predictable. Lio said he had to go to bed, and Galo offered to walk him home.

“No, there’s no need.” Lio thought about Galo walking him home for “protection” anyway. Faced against any attacker, he’d just start barking at them with no bite, like sicking a golden retriever on someone.

“It could be dangerous walking home.”

“Galo.” Lio said, more bluntly than needed, seeing Galos face fall, “I am fine. I’ve handled myself for years, Christ.”

“But you aren’t alone now, you have me!” Galo took his hand, “We could pilot a mech together, I can lead you home too.”

The rock in Lios throat, the desire to absolutely blow up in anger again, the same he had when he was on TV, the ‘no, you really do not understand’. He snapped his hand away and wordlessly left the building, starting in the direction his previous apartment was. 

And he stomped around the block, back to HQ, and let himself in on the side entrance. After using the showers in the locker rooms, it was like he had the whole building of mechas and equipment to himself. Funny that it was all equipment that wouldn’t be needed anymore.

Lio laid on his side in the linen closet, cuddled under a mass of shock blankets, flipping on the lighter that he kept with him. His old leather jacket, unworn in weeks, acted as his pillow. The Promare flame leaving him was like losing a limb, so the cold was something he wasn’t used to. It was exhausting and Galo only knew the tip of the iceberg. The mutation kept him from aging regularly, it gave him literal armor, it let him fly, kept him warm. His communication with his Promare was so strong even his Burnish peers of other countries got in contact with him for information about breaking through military grade cufflinks with nothing but their flames. He was a resource to resistance, an encrypted number people would call. He was the Boss, and now? He’s a talk show guest, swallowing literally everything left of his pride for resources. It was bootlicking, it was giving up dignity. It was accepting that if, somehow, the Promare came back, the urge to burn came back, everything would go exactly back to the way it was, and all of this fake acceptance would be gone. They’d be fire starting freaks again, the light and hope in Galos eyes would leave. When missing the Promare, Lio thought about how Galo would react. He wanted the communication back, the voice always at his back, telling him “burn, burn to fuel us and feel better”. He almost wanted it all back, his power and his undercover influence. It was a fleeting childish idea, but how he was the boss of nothing. It took working with public authority for him to make any change, and he hated himself for it. 

“HEY.” a nasally voice snapped him out of his misery. He shot up in fear. A girl he recognized was in the doorway, her buns down and goggles over her eyes.

“I SEE a heat signature, who the hell is in here?” Lio sighed and stood up, it’s not like he could fight anymore.

“It’s me, Lucia.” 

“Lio?” Lucia stared at him, “what on earth are you doing in the storage closet?”

“....I got lost.”

“You’re sleeping on an entire load of laundry shaped like a pillow.”

Lio stared at her, defeated in the events of the day. He’d already lied to his men, he’d lied to Galo, but he hasn't spoken to Lucia before. He had no reason to keep up appearances or tell pretty little half truths that he was feeling fine.

“I’ve been sleeping here.”

Lucia's face fell from anger, “Well grab a towel for me, my mech experiment failed and now smokes popping out of it.”

Lio stared at her in disarray, head spinning from fatigue. Maybe he wasn’t sleeping tonight.

Lucia's pod lab was a mess. There were papers tacked to the wall, a wastebasket full of junk food bags and coffee mugs, and sure enough, an entire mech torso was smoking from the side.

Lucia pointed at it, “Smother the flames with the towels, I’ll throw extinguishing goo.”

“You have an entire building of fire fighting equipment, why am I using a fucking towel?”

“It’s a GREASE fire?? Not a Promare fire. If you put water on grease it gets worse, everyone knows that.”

Lio didn’t actually know that. All the flames in his life were started by him, why would he know that. Also, he didn’t extinguish fire. It wasn’t his thing. 

“Why are you even here?” Lio asked, out of breath as the flame started to falter out.

Lucia opened a window, airing out at least a portion of the smoke, “They put me on duty for designing construction robots, to help speed up the building process. I already had blueprints for them, but they were on the backburner until your little incident cleared up my priority queue.” she stared at him, “Are you chest binding right now?” 

Lio stared at her again, “Yeah, how could you te-”

“Take that off then, oh my god you’re going to hurt your ribs.” Lucina sounded like a mother, “seriously, it’s going to restrict your breathing and there’s a lot of PC heat and mech smoke that happens in here.” 

Lio sighed and complied, placing his jacket and binder on the nearest seat. 

“God. This demo’s busted,” Lucia sat back in her swivel chair, allowing herself to spin several times before stopping herself, “Do you smoke?”

Lio looked up, “I controlled fire since I was eleven, what do you think?”

“Just making sure,” Lucina rolled her chair to the open window, whipping out a pre-rolled joint.

“So really, what the hell are you doing here.” She lit her joint with seemingly no real care.

“Let’s just say, I can’t say no to anyone. My apartment has twenty Burnish sleeping in it.”

“Within a week?” Lucia passed the joint to him.

“Yup.” Lio tried to light the tip with the tip of his finger before realizing his mistake. He flipped his lighter out, a habit he was going to have to learn.

“Yeesh…” 

“God I just,” Lio leaned back, exhaling smoke in the general direction of the window, “ I don’t miss how we were treated, but I think I miss my armor the most.”

“The black one??”

“Yes.”

“That was the coolest mecha I had EVER seen.”

“Weren’t you supposed to be fighting it?”

“Nah, that was Galo’s job, not mine.” Lucia grinned, “I’m just a technician, I can appreciate someone's handiwork.”

“I don’t want the alien Promare back, I don’t want my people to be hurt again,” Lio sighed, defeated, “I just want to feel like the leader again. I was the boss.”

“You know…” Lucia swivelled in a full circle, “I could make that mech again.”

“You don’t have the best footage of me in that thing. Outside of maybe a mugshot.”

“Oh do I? I have a full recorded view from Galos mech that we studied after we arrested you.” Lucia started pulling up archives on her computer, “I do watch it again and again when I’m bored.”

The footage burned in Lios eyes, the gorgeous black mech suit, the little heels he perfected talking on the tiptoes of. The giant grin and the taunting, summonable motorcycle. Oh my god he was so proud of that motorcycle. He missed it. God he missed that power and the feeling that he, for once, had control over someone.

“Lucia.”

“Yeah?”

“I think I know what I’m wearing for my next public appearance.”

**Author's Note:**

> oh my god i listened to SO Much Grimes while writing this. Lio may be the character that i love the most the i cant really nail a playlist for because ill be real it's just the same as my "trans antifa with anger issues" playlist.
> 
> Song Title is from Calm Me Down Mother Mother.
> 
> ANYWAY leave a comment if you want!! im on twt @letsgotothemaul and trust me im fully planning on chapter 2 >:)!


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